French President Emmanuel Macron is meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Russia Thursday where the Iranian nuclear deal, Russia-European relations, Ukraine and trade are the main topics on the agenda.

President Emmanuel Macron told executives from the world's biggest technology firms that he wanted innovation to be a driving force for the French economy, but also that they needed to contribute more to society.

Russia is preparing to welcome leaders and executives from the world of business and economics but this year's St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) comes at a time when its international relations are more unstable than ever.

Europe and Iran sought a united front on Tuesday to save the nuclear deal U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned last week, with Britain warning against regime change and Tehran expressing hope it could keep the economic benefits of the accord.

After a decade of taking a back seat to Germany, France is now moving center stage in denouncing what it calls the German "fetishism of trade and budget surpluses" at the expense of the rest of Europe and a wider world, Michael Ivanovitch writes.

Iran's bold rocket assault on Israeli forces signals an unwillingness to just take a diplomatic approach to the U.S. exit from the nuclear agreement, and that it could be very aggressive in skirting renewed sanctions.